Thursday, August 31, 2006

Our readers may remember this post we made earlier this year about the UK city of Liverpool.

In this news item, Chairman of the Liverpool Chess Foundation David Robertson has very ambitious plans:

A year ago we had the idea to broaden the basis of the 2008 Capital of Culture year by staging a number of international chess tournaments to put Liverpool on a par with other European chess cities, such as Turin, Dresden, Zurich and Budapest.

Following this EU Championship, we have an even bigger, more prestigious grandmaster tournament planned for Liverpool's 800th birthday next year and in 2008 we are planning to host the biggest tournament on British soil in 100 years.

The All India Chess Federation is set to host the next Commonwealth Chess Championships in Mumbai. It will be an 11-rounder and will run from 19 to 29 November this year. According to this report, Nigel Short and Aussie GM Ian Rogers will be in attendance.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

I recall this event being promoted by Australian IA Gary Bekker last January during the Queenstown Chess Classic in New Zealand. It was very tempting to attend. What with a nice beach holiday plus chess at this very luxurious venue. Aah, next time, I decided. Too many things to do is always my excuse.

In any case, the tournament will commence tomorrow featuring some familiar names. Our friends from New Zealand Hilton Bennett and Paul Spiller will be in attendance. And so will a regular contributor to this blog, Pinoy journo Marlon Bernardino.

Thanks to current champ Andrew Bird, we have some games from the NSW State Championships. The first one involves a Hail Mary finish by junior Max Illingworth. The 13-year old is about to be mated but, at the most crucial moment, finds a neat save.

With Black to play, how would you save yourself?

After 56. Kf6, M. Nanavati - M. Illingworth

Well, while you consider that, let's take a look at the round 1 encounter between Andrew Bird and the same junior, Max Illingworth. As we noted last week, Max maintains his giant-killing reputation by this time downing the defending champion. With brief annotations by Andrew.

Monday, August 28, 2006

My goodness, what a busy news Monday! And I still haven't even mentioned the NSW State Championships yet!

Pinoy player Roland Salvador completed his Bratto campaign by beating FM Pietro Mola, of Italy, in the 9th and final round. The Pinoy collected 6.5 points overall - good enough for a tie of fourth place with 7 other players. Sadly, Roland's performance here means that he'll have to fight in another tournament for a chance at his third and final GM result.

Here's a bit of gossip. Our favourite female chess player has reportedly signed with Channel 7's Dancing with the Stars program. She will appear on TV along side the likes of Australian TV celebrities Amanda Keller and Gary Sweet.

After seeing her do the salsa in the Spanish Club, I reckon she's a shoo-in (note the correct spelling, not "shoe-in").

It's all over. Thanks to Marlon Bernardino, we have the list of top scorers. Pinoy chesser IM Dimakiling ended his 11th round game in a draw against IM Ashot Nadanian to reach 8 points - the same as 4 other players. Congressman Prospero Pichay was quoted by ABS-CBN as saying, "Despite his second-place finish, Oliver [Dimakiling] did the country proud because he missed the title by only the tiebreak".

The official Malaysian sites have not been updated so I don't know the exact performances of the Aussie players. But we can tell from the list above, that they were not high scorers. GM Ian Rogers cannot have had a good tournament. He apparently ran into some Pinoy trouble (or as one Sydney player called it, "the Pinoy nightmare"). Rogers lost to Wesley So.

Filipino journo Ignacio Dee sent me this email about Cordillera Open winner Mirabeau Maga. It gives a brief insight into Maga's career. We especially like the little story about Maga's knight sac against one GM Eugene Torre! Here's hoping that we will at least see the game store to that encounter.

Ignacio Dee is our guest blogger for this week. Enjoy! And thanks Iggy.

By Ignacio DeeMet Maga Saturday evening at the home of Glenn Bordonanda, the 1978 Buenos Aires Olympiad third board gold medallist, who is now a senior manager for Unilever.

Mirabeau Maga, a former national champion, relived his best years by winning the P40,000 Cordillera Open last Thursday.

The 53-year-old Maga, a national master, scored 7.5 points out of 9 to win the tournament unbeaten ahead of International Master Jayson Gonzales and Philippine chess legend Eugene Torre.

Maga defeated Gonzales, National Master Rolando Nolte and National Chess Federation of the Philippines executive director Samuel Estimo, a two-time member of Olympiad teams.

Maga's wins against Gonzales and Nolte with the black pieces were triggered by knight sacrifices, and his draw against Torre was forced by a knight offer.

When Maga showed his games to friends Saturday evening, he smiled when they could not find out the key sacrifice.

It was Maga's draw against Torre that laid open to the possibility that he could win the tournament. Maga sacrificed his knight in the endgame against Torre, and then gave up his b-pawn to force his a-pawn at the fifth rank to advance.

Maga's sacrifice, which tied up Torre's knight, and forced the game into a king and pawn endgame with the lone pawn at the a-file, surprised Torre.

"He was jolted by this move," said Maga.

Maga sacrificed his knight twice against Gonzales, the first to force create threats against the king which Gonzales refused. The second offer, which Gonzales had to accept, gave Maga two extra pawns in a bishop-of-same-color endgame.

Maga sacrificed his knight at h2 to create mating threats against Nolte. Nolte was able to stave off immediate resignation but had to surrender in another endgame.

Maga shared the 1986 national championship with the late IM Ruben Rodriguez and later qualified for that's year's Olympiad in Dubai.

In 1987, Maga's career was set back by a controversial decision from the old Philippine Chess Federation that banned him, now-IM Petronio Roca and master Vince Alaan from competition for a year due to game-fixing.

In 1992 Maga qualified for the Olympiad in Manila. Last May, Maga was in line for a berth for the Turin Olympiad until the penultimate round when Oliver Dimakiling swindled him out of a sure win in time trouble.

Maga recovered by beating prodigy Wesley So in the last round, which other results, created a five-man playoff for the remaining berth. So won the playoff in Tagaytay City, which was held a few days after the Holy Week break.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

International master David Smerdon is currently in The Netherlands, apparently on study exchange for his university diploma. But it won't all be books and long hours of essay writing for this talented master. There is also chess.

Last week, David finished equal first in a weekend tournament in Tilburg. And this week, he competes in what GM Ian Rogers describes (in his Sun Herald column) as "the most challenging round robin tournament in which Smerdon, 20, has ever competed".

Kuala Lumpur is proving to be a happy hunting ground for Filipino players. After 9 rounds in the Malaysian Open, Pinoys have earned those highly sought-after title norms. Oliver Dimakiling has just secured his first ever GM result. While FM Julio Catalino Sadorra, John Paul Gomez and FM Wesley So obtain IM results, according to Pinoy journo Marlon Bernardino.

Wesley So actually now becomes an IM-elect and needs only to raise his rating to 2400 to become a full international master. The 12-year old's two previous IM norms were earned in Dubai and the San Marino tournaments.

Meanwhile, in Italy, Pinoy player Roland Salvador is battling it out with the locals in Bratto. At the 7th round mark, he shares the lead, on 5.5 points, with several grandmasters. Roland needs just one more GM result to join the ranks of Pinoy GMs.

Friday, August 25, 2006

Australia's biggest chess bulletin board, Chess Chat, moderated by Australian Chess Federation officials, has found itself a serious challenger and the gloves are off.

Chess Chat has always been a tough part of town, but, now Matthew Sweeney's new board, Australian Chess Club Forum, is proving to be a serious challenge.

Alarmed by that challenge, Chess Chat moderator and ACF official Dr Kevin Bonham tonight made the following ruling:

...material posted on the small forum being run by Matthew [Sweeney] again cannot be quoted here, nor can any posts or unsolicited [private messages] promoting the forum or having the effect of linking to it (including indirectly) be made. Discussion of it beyond that is OK for the time being.

Mr Sweeney made this statement to TCG: "The ACF must be scared to death that Australian Chess Club Forum is destroying the monopoly on debate it has held for three years at Chess Chat. In fact, Chess Chat has gone so far as to delete any reference or thread related to the new board."

Chess Chat will likely continue to remain popular but most of its inhabitants can see that it has slowly evolved into something other than a chess bulletin board. Most of the recent popular topics have nothing to do with chess whatsoever. And any topic that is remotely to do with chess are basically chess fans complaining against chess officials! Some of these threads are just plain embarassing. I count at least 4 threads dedicated to a certain Queensland chess official (including one about his car collection). And yet another accuses a NSWCA big wig of being a serial abuser.

For some serious chess discussion, I'd say, go to Matt Sweeney's bulletin board. They might seem like a bunch of preened Sunday schoolers with cheesy boy scout pledges to boot - but at least they're trying.

I have not been able to confirm this from the official site but according to Pinoy journo Marlon Bernardino, 12-year old FM Wesley So, of the Philippines, has just defeated GM Ian Rogers, of Australia, in the 7th round of the currently running Malaysian Open.

Below is a portion of Mr Bernardino's report that he has just submitted to Philippine newspapers.

Up against Grandmaster Dao Thien Hai, one of Vietnam’s most-feared chess masters, Filipino International Master Oliver Dimakiling bravely stood his ground and forced a fighting draw to stay ahead of the pack in the seventh round of the Dato Arthur Tan 3rd Malaysian Open at the Citi Tel Mid Valley Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The standoff kept the 13th seed Dimakiling half a point ahead of his pursuers with six points after seven rounds, even as 12-year old Fide Master Wesley So made a big leap following a king-sized upset win against Australian GM Ian Rogers.

The win by So, a resident of Bacoor, Cavite, put him in the company of Dao, GM Nguyen Anh Dung and Indonesian IM Tirto in a tie for second to 4th places with 5.5 points each in the 11-round, Swiss System tournament.

Continuing this theme of old vs young, as well as one that involves an Aussie, here is a photo of Brian Jones against Bryan Lee.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Citing a lack of time and a renewed interest to actually play chess, Paul Broekhuyse has stepped down as webmaster of the Australian Chess Federation. This announcement in the most recent issue of the federations newsletter.

On the very outdated ACF website Paul says, "The website could also benefit from someone with more free time and stronger technical skills than I have."

Following the announcement is a job ad for the position of ACF webmaster and newsletter editor. Any interested parties can contact the following: ACF President, Denis Jessop - denis.jessop@netspeed.com.au; or ACF Secretary, Jey Hoole - email: jeydh4@hotmail.com.

Applications must be received by close of business on September 07.

Failing any freebie offers for volunteer work, I suggest the ACF just pay some outfit to run their website for them. How about their good hosts over at the Chess Chat forum - the ACF's chess forum of choice?

This tournament began on Monday with some 85 players competing. Top seed is Pinoy GM Mark Paragua followed by a number of 2500+ rated grandmasters including Aussie Ian Rogers, grandmasters Dao Thien Hai and Nguyen Anh Dung, both of Vietnam, GM Yu Shaoteng from China, another Pinoy GM Nelson Mariano and Susanto Megaranto of Indonesia.

There are many strong international masters present, too, with RP being well represented by the likes of Yves Ranola, Ronald Dableo, Oliver Dimakiling and Richard Bitoon. Young sensation and Olympiad player FM Wesley So is also in attendance.

Along with Ian Rogers, other Australians are Chris Wallis, Jonathan Humphrey and FM Brian Jones.

At the 6th round mark, IM Oliver Dimakiling leads with a slim margin on 5.5 points. Close behind on 5 are GM Dao Thien Hai and FM Julio Catalino Sadorra from RP.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

In the latest edition of NIC magazine, Garry Kasparov can only look forward to disappointing times ahead as a result of Kirsan's re-election last June.

I have no regrets about writing an open letter of support for Bessel Kok...Unfortunately, Bessel was preaching ideas that simply don't exist in the chess world. Commercial sponsorship, television coverage, all these elements of a professional sport - without any examples, it was a coalition of dreams. Now our dreams will have to be put on hold yet again.

Well, Kirsan's PR machine are doing everything it can to dispel such thoughts.

In this interview (original here) with Russian journo Yuri Vasiliev, football and the Olympic Games are nicely "name-dropped". ("Football players use many-step combinations, resembling chess combinations"; "the Chinese [Olympic Games] Organisers support us 100%".)

And now notice this unfortunate remark by our Russian interviewer: "Football is the last sport in need of propaganda…"

That's right Yuri, not football, however - your mate Kirsan certainly does. But gentlemen, no more talk of sorcerers please! It's hardly the sort of talk that encourages CEOs to sponsor chess, you know.

And what is with this new found love between Turkish Chess Fed boss Ali Nihat Yazici and Kirsan? "Bravo Kirsan! Welcome and thank you. I wish you good success for your dreams to be realised", Ali writes in Chessbase.

My God, that just about makes me cringe into giving up chess completely. I mean, this Ali guy once took a phone call from Kirsan's 2IC Georgios Makropoulos (who is Greek, by the way) who rang in with, "We will fuck you!" (in response to Ali's and Bessel's announcement of their Right Move campaign).

That's chess politics for you, eh? All we need now is for Sweeney and Gletsos to kiss and make up. (Sorry international readers. Couldn't help myself).

The Chinese team has won the third edition of the China vs Russia match-up. But Xie Jun, acting as chief umpire of the event said, ""We should not be complacent...China sent top players to this event while Russia fielded a second-string team".

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

The 2006 NSW State Championships began last Sunday and already, we have our first surprise. Thirteen-year old Max Illingworth maintains his giant killer status by downing defending champ Andrew Bird in the first round. However, more importantly for us is the comeback of one Greg Canfell.

FIDE master Canfell returns to competitive play after a 7-month self imposed hiatus. We understand that his break was largely due to a heart-breaking loss to GM Murray Chandler in January at the Australian Championships in Brisbane. In a winning position, Canfell fell for a cheapo and lost horribly.

Well, it seems that his break has done his chess a lot of good and he's fully recovered. We hope so anyway. Last Sunday, he faced off against German visitor Rasmus Koelln and won. With special (make that "shirty") permission from Greg Canfell, we republish his annotations to his first round game.

1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.d4 cxd4 5.cxd4 e6 6.Bc4 I know this is one of the main lines, but Bxd5 never seems to offer much - so why not put the Bishop on its natural attacking square, d3.

6...d6 7.Nf3 Nc6 8.Bxd5?! exd5 9.0-0 Be7 10.Qb3?! 10.Nc3 10...dxe5 11.Nxe5?! White would certainly like to exchange knights as now 11...Nxe5 12.dxe5 is far preferable to the immediate 11.dxe5 when simply 12...0-0, followed by either Be6 or Bg4 is very pleasant for Black - Qxb7 will always be met by Nb4. But 11.Nxe5 has its own problems

After 11. Nxe5

11...Nxd4! 12.Qa4+ Nc6 13.Nc3! The best reaction. After 13.Nxc6 Qd7 - the move Rasmus missed when he embarked upon 10.Qb3 - Black would simply be a pawn up 13...0-0 14.Nxc6 bxc6 15.Qxc6 Be6 Black's advantages are the 2 bishops, an unblockadeable isolani, and a badly offside White Queen, but it's still a very difficult position 16.Rd1 Rc8 17.Qa6

After 17. Qa6

17...d4! It is essential that White not be allowed to play Be3-Bd4 - otherwise he might even be better. 17...Bc5 would transpose to the game after 18.Be3! d4 18.Be3 Bc5 Immediately giving up the queen was another way. 18...dxe3 19.Rxd8 exf2+ 20.Kxf2 Bc5+ 21.Kg3! Rfxd8 and the bishops and rooks look impressive but maybe White simply plays 22.Rd1.

19.Na4 either this or 19.Ne4 was forced 19...dxe3 20.Rxd8 exf2+ 21.Kf1 Rfxd8 22.Nxc5 Rxc5 23.Kxf2 Rc2+ 24.Kg3? or 24.Kg1? Rdd2 25.Qb7 h6 followed by ...Bd5 when the WK is a sitting duck. The only chance was 24.Ke3! when it's surprisingly difficult for the rooks and bishop to net the king. I was going to go pawn-scabbing for a while first, but a line like 24...Rxb2 25.Qxa7 h6 26.a4 Rdd2 isn't clear, although Black has all the chances. I must feed this to the machines. 24...Rxb2! Taken with impunity. If now 25.Qxa7 Rd3+ and mate soon follows.

Monday, August 21, 2006

Thanks to Pinoy journo Marlon Bernardino and Rick Reyes for the following photos of the opening day of the 1st Cordillera Open. The event is held at the Baguio Country Club and will see RP's best players gather to compete for a P40,000 first prize. Among the top players are Torre and GM title candidate Jayson Gonzales.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Six hundred and thirty-two players are competing in the 13th Ordix Open. It is reputed as the world's strongest rapid event and the 2006 edition maintains that reputation. Morozevich, Shirov, Grischuk and Naiditsch are just some of the top names battling it out over 11 rounds.

And, as expected, we note one young Australian in the event. Who else but WIM Arianne Caoili?

Saturday, August 19, 2006

The National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) will choose a swiss system format eliminations tournament to select the team that will represent the country at the Asian Games in Doha later this year. In response, RP's 3 top grandmasters are not very happy.

Mark Paragua, Joey Antonio and Eugene Torre asked the national body to reconsider via a letter to fed boss Congressman Prospero Pichay: "There are other ways and criteria to best select our representatives in important international events as practiced by other countries...The Swiss System is definitely not one of them."

Friday, August 18, 2006

These open threads seem to be quite popular so we'll have another one. Besides, just about the only interesting item I spotted is all this bitchin' over Jennifer Shahade's book title, "Chess Bitch". What was the NY Times thinking?

Anyway, we like an anonymous poster's suggestion for a Friday Open thread topic: "the effectiveness of communication and information dissemination within the Australian chess cummunity."

The guys over at WACA produce a fantastic monthly downloadable newsletter in PDF format. For my money, this is definitely the best approach. Those who prefer a printed format by snail mail, or don't have net access (hard to believe but, yeah, they're out there) can receive that; and those that prefer to download can do so.

What about you, dear readers - any thoughts? Where are we lacking? How can we improve? Well OK, we can start with maybe updating the federation's website! Maybe a chess blog by your friendly Ratings Officer?

This is an open thread so talk about anything you want. I notice that there's the usual stoush between monsieurs Dr Bonham (who doesn't like to be referred to as an ACF official) and Sydney chess organiser Matt Sweeney, along with their respective supporters. Feel free to do that, but please keep the lingo kosher.

Finally, I'm off to some artsy do tonight. A Japanese musical thing, organised by an oversexed chess mate of mine. I gotta be there to make him look good. Have a good weekend.

Back in the day, long before I joined the popular chess servers, there was Yahoo!Chess. It was free, which is why I joined in the first place. There was just a couple of problems. First, there were no controls in cheating unlike on paid-service sites like ICC. Second, the interface had a "cartoony" feel to it. And so it wasn't long before I just gave up.

But now, courtesy of Zero G Games, Yahoo! has relaunched their chess site. The site offers multiplayer and cross-platform capability which allows players to take their games on cell phones. Cool!

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

I have not seen any coverage of this event by the regular chess sources. All info I find are via the People's Daily. After 4 rounds, both nations are on par at 20 points each. If not for their women's team, the Chinese would be way behind.

Xie Jun was quoted as saying, "If the Chinese men don't lose too many games in later rounds and let the Russians run too far away, the Chinese team will very likely win the competition".

A mobile entertainment firm, Glu Mobile, is working with former World Champ Gary Kasparov on developing "Kasparov Chess".

Kasparov Chess, which will be available on wireless carriers worldwide beginning in early 2007, will offer a number of ways to play including cross-carrier, international multi-player capabilities allowing players to challenge other chess players around the world. Complete features of the game will be announced upon launch.

Monday, August 14, 2006

Congratulations to Max Sac Hackers team for winning the second NSWCA Teams Challenge event with 24.5 points after 7 rounds. Led by Neil Wright, they edged out the top seeded Sydney University 1 team by half a point.

And in case you're wondering, 'Sac' doesn't mean these guys just go berserk with the sacrifices. I didn't know this until yesterday but 'Sac' actually means "Sydney Academy of Chess" - the team's principal sponsor.

Low numbers in the second Teams Challenge

Only 14 teams competed in the second edition of the Teams Challenge. Last May, 25 teams turned up. It's difficult to say why so many players stayed away; maybe they're just busy with other things. The school sides of Fort Street and Knox Grammar, for instance, were absent yesterday. And the powerful Team Koala, led last time around by international master Gary Lane, failed to make an appearance. But the most notable absence was that of Team Maybe, the first edition winners.

Despite the low turnout, everyone was very competitive especially the guys from the University of Sydney. Australia's oldest university sent in 3 teams. Captained by Jason Chan, their premiere side came packing with two PhD's - Mr Chan himself and the economics lecturer Dr Vladimir Smirnov. Sydney University 2 was much weaker but did feature two unknown players from overseas, Thomas Kohli and Sebastian Hermann. Being unknown is sometimes an advantage because no one knows your style. As it turned out, these two guys were very competent players. They helped to rout my side, Parramatta A, 4-0 in the second round!

The University of NSW also came along. They couldn't find find enough students or staff so they conscripted a senior player, Mr Toby Lewski. We jokingly called him a "mature-age student".

That was the final Teams Challenge event for 2006. I love the format. Given my busy schedule, these one-day events are about all I can devote my time to except for the larger nationals as well as the Doeberl Cup. And playing for a team adds an extra dimension. I always feel disappointed when I lose. But I feel even more disappointed for the whole team when I lose. Feeling that kind of pressure pushes you to work harder. On the other hand, there is a certain sweetness to watching a team-mate struggle through his position knowing that he is desperately trying to do his best for you. I can't wait for next year now.

The Western Australian Chess Association produces an excellent newsletter in PDF format. In their August issue, Haydn Barber looks back at the state championship event in 1966.

Six times former champion Leonhardt knew what was required and settled down to play careful determined Chess from the onset and his reward was 7½ points from the first 8 rounds, the draw being with Foster. Woodhams, confidently walking the tightrope of a series of combinational crises had slipped but once (versus Raudzins) and had drawn with Lilly to be only a point behind. Meanwhile, Stannard, Jones, Foster and Lilly had all lost at least two points and were almost out of it.

The old power Russia and one of the world's rising chess giants, China, are about to go head-to-head. It will be the third such match-up between the two countries. China's chief delegate is optimistic: "China stands a better chance than in any of the previous two contests, since Chinese players, especially the men's team, have improved a lot".

Friday, August 11, 2006

Our first open thread last week was a success - 25 comments! OK, here's another one. Discuss:

1. Matt Sweeney's rival forum - an ACF official asks, will he or will he not enforce Code of Conduct declarations?2. A Sydney chess personality wonders why the 2007 Sydney International Open doesn't have rating prizes3. Can someone please confirm that the 2008 Olympiad will have these changes (i) a 5-man team down from 6, four still play and (ii) distaff side will have also 5 players and 4 play up from 3?

Have a good weekend ladies and gents. Yours truly will be at the NSW Teams Challenge 2 event this Sunday. I can't wait.

It had to happen sooner or later. After the controversy surrounding cheating with the use of electronic aids at the World Open, now we have a real case of steroid use by a chess player. And he's only 13-years old!

According to a news report, the 13-year old Bobby Baines "was one of 17 professional chess players ranging in ages from 8 to 97 years old, that are under suspicion for blood doping and taking drugs on the USCF list of banned substances".

I must say, the last 3 months - from that Gormallygate incident to an apparent suicide, then to the World Open controversy and finally this - has not exactly been the best for chess. What next?

I was rather delighted to receive an email from my friend Nur Yachou. As you may recall, the Victorian played in this year's Dubai Open. After that event, our good friend went on to travel the world and right now he is in his homeland of Romania.

Bucharest-born Nur is currently playing in the Predeal Chess Open. Says he, "I have not played in any tournament since last April in Dubai, so I am out of practice".

The tournament is quite strong, with a number of 2500+ masters at the top. Nur provides the following tips on how to read the Romanian listing: MMI = GM and MI = IM and MF = FM and if you see a small letter f [like] "MIf", [it] means IM female.

Good luck Nur! We are hoping to be in constant touch with our lone Aussie warrior and maybe, if we get lucky, we'll post a few pictures from this beautiful mountain city of Predeal.

After 7 rounds, the Aussies are in 8th place overall with 16.5 points. Team Ukraine leads with 20.5 points.

In round six, Australia were routed by the powerful Indians 3-1. The single point came off a win by Aussie board one Zhigen-Wilson Lin (rated 2031) over Adhiban B rated 2310.

Australia reversed their fortunes in the following round by beating South Africa 3-1. Zhigen-Wilson and Rukman, boards 1 and 2 respectively, both won their games while the Aussie boards 3 and 4 drew theirs.

Next stop for Australia is Hungary, a team led by international master David Berczes.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

With the above title, I just thought I'd top DG's "Tightening the screws" post yesterday. Most of you have probably already heard of the Internet Chess Club's decision to increase their basic membership cost to US$59.95 (about AUD$85). The ICC is also removing the ability for "guests" to chat and play.

Two things. First, the cost is really nothing. But with rising interest rates and petrol prices, not to mention over-priced bananas, the ICC may find itself with a reduced customer base.

It will be interesting to see how Playchess will respond whose basic membership fee is still at the much lower US$31.50. The German service offers a much slicker interface and I particularly like the multiboard view during live tournament coverage. Plus there is, of course, GM Yasser Seirawan's dulcet voice ("dulcet" is a word I learned yesterday in a project walkthrough session, believe it or not. I just thought I'd slip that in).

What Playchess lacks, however, is atmosphere. Nothing beats kibitzing on ICC.

Secondly, why does ICC do away with guest chat and play? Surely a blunder! I recall my first trial years ago. I logged in as a guest, played a few games, went around the chat rooms, then decided to join for good. I always like going for a bit of a test run before a final commitment.

I have no doubt that are those who are basically "permanent guests", folks who just keep it creating new FREE accounts. These guys consume bandwith. And Caissa knows, I need all the bandwidth I can get - what with this stupid Australian senator who thinks that 1.5Mbps ADSL, offered by my ISP Telstra, is perfectly satisfactory. How do these women get elected for crying out loud?

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Nearly missed this but we have Canberra organiser Jenni Oliver to thank for pointing this out. The World U16 Youth Olympiad is currently being played in Turkey. It's a 10 round event and will finish on 12 August.

Mrs Oliver informs us, "Quite a good Aussie team playing (although nowhere near what we could field. Ben Harris had a tough time getting there, with late planes and missed connections, so forfeits in the first 2 rounds, but he seems to have got there in time for round 3."

The other 3 players in the Aussie squad are Zhigen-Wilson Lin, V. Rukman and Derek Yu.

After three rounds of play, the Australian chessers are on 6 points. In the first round, they were routed by an IM-led Georgia 4-0. Round 2 was an even affair with the Aussies scoring 2-2 against Syria. Then in round 3, our young hopefuls delivered a 4-0 wipeout against Turkmenistan B.

Turkmenitan's A team will have a chance to strike revenge as they meet the Aussies in the fourth round.

Monday, August 07, 2006

For Aussies who fancy themselves as the next Stefan Meyer-Kahlen (Shredder) or Amir Ban and Shay Bushinsky (Junior), the next National Computer Chess Championships (NC3) is being held from 20 August as part of the ANU Chess Festival.

It will be an online event which means that spectators can log in and watch these chips battle it out.

Sunday, August 06, 2006

No joke! Yes, the country where chess originated is now creating a formal university qualification in chess. Would-be grandmasters can earn their diploma in chess at the Symbiosis University, in India.

Dr Satish Thigale, faculty head at the university:

The game originated in India, but over the years the West has left its mark on the game due to persistent efforts and systematic coaching. It’s time we change that and the best way to go about it would be developing it in school.

The idea certainly contributes to India's very high ambitions of notching up 100 grandmasters by the year 2012. So far, they have 14 - a long way to go!

The idea of chess being part of some kind of tertiary study is probably nothing new. I'm pretty sure the Russians have been doing it for years. But I'm not certain if they had a stand-alone qualification like a "diploma in chess". Perhaps our more learned readers can clarify.

Last night, while out having drinks with the boys, we got to talking about chess. As usual, we found ourselves in the Spanish Club - the scene of many a blitz battles right into the early hours of morning. We were specifically talking about entry fees into chess tournaments.

Somebody said, "I don't play chess any more. The entry fees are extortionate". He was complaining about NSWCA entry charges of around $70 plus or so.

To which another fellow replied, "What are you gonna do with your money? When you die, you can't take any of it! Just play and have a good time".

'Nuff said!

In NSW there are a couple of excellent tournaments to play in. The Teams Challenge is always fun and has been the most popular event in the NSWCA's calendar over the last 2 years. And I just love it. Knowing that you're playing, not just for yourself, but for a team gives brings on extra pressure. The excitement of that last deciding game puts everyone on edge. If you're in NSW, get yourself a team and play the Teams Challenge.

Later this month, of course, is the annual state championships. At one game a day, it's ideal for those who prefer a more relaxed pace with plenty of time to prepare for a game or recover from a traumatic loss.

Our two posts on Matt Sweeney's Australian Chess Club Forum are breaking records by being the two most commented posts so far in the blog's history. Both have 20 comments or more each. You can read the first post here and the second one here.

Perhaps the most amusing comment was from an anonymous poster who said that Matt Sweeney's new forum was basically a split thread from Australia's liveliest chess bulletin board.

Unfortunately, as I add more posts, the old ones are pushed further and further down. So dear readers, feel free to continue the discussion here.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

We received an email from PhD student Jason Chan, who is also the president of the Sydney University CC, about an interesting little side show during the Australian Universities Rapid Championships (AURC). During the lunch break of AURC, the players got down to some interesting games playing chess variants with names like "grand crossing", "stationary king", "explosion chess" and "hidden clock".

They played one variant per round over 9 rounds.

In his report, Jason says, "We ran each round at the blitz time control of 5 minutes, and just before the start of each round, a variant was randomly chosen and then the rules quickly explained."

Sounds like it was a day of jolly good fun! I regret to have missed it.

Local international arbiter Jason Lyons has began a blog. It's called "Mise En Scene". It's a little short on content but if you know Mr Lyons, then you can keep a track of him via his blog. As I understand it, he's currently somewhere in the United States.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Continuing our series on women chess players with something to say, we now have an entry from across the Tasman. Natasha Fairley is a familiar face to Aussie chess fans. She's been seen in a Doeberl Cup and I last spotted her at the Queenstown Chess Classic tournament.

In this interview with New Zealand's Stuff, Natasha says: "When people say it's not a sport I always have a little argument with them...Using your brain and controlling your brain is just as hard as running or lifting something. In fact you could say it's harder".

It seems every chess playing woman described as an "Anna Kournikova" of chess is giving out their bits of wisdom. Speaking to Satya Siddharth Rath, Alexandra Kosteniuk said:

I always feel I must do something in life. Life is not eternal, one must always keep moving ahead. I want to leave behind a trace of my passage on earth by doing some good deeds, by showing people the joys of the game of chess, which has given me a lot of happiness.